A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Coloring fabric with permanent markers and alcohol

For my last
few posts, I thought I would give you a glimpse of some fabrics I have colored
using a technique that has been around for a long time – but one I struggled
with when I first started experimenting with it. Basically, it is using permanent marking pens
and high grade Isoprophyl alcohol.

Here are a
few examples of my earliest experiments on cotton:

These were
fun, but I did not know they needed to be heat set before washing, and they
ended up fading quite a bit. So I put
the technique aside, even though I was still very interested in learning how to
use it. Happily, I have since revisited
this technique on muslin, rayon and cotton jersey and silk, and I found that heat setting
will keep the colors from fading when I wash them out!

Some time
ago, I found a couple of tutorials by Carol R Eaton. Carol is a great dyer and
she shares many of her techniques on her blog carolreatondesigns.blogspot.com. I visit
her blog regularly, and was intrigued by her tutorials on using permanent
markers and alcohol on silk. Here is one
I decided to try: http://carolreatondesigns.blogspot.com/2014/10/silk-sharpies-alcohol-yum.html. This one caught my interest because she used
empty containers to stretch the silk over, banding it in place, before she
applied the markers and alcohol. But I just wasn’t ready yet to try this
technique, so I filed it in the back of my mind for future reference.

That all
came back this past month – I joined a group on Facebook that discusses
painting with alcohol inks… close to the same thing, although I didn’t see any
references to the markers, and I also did not see any examples of using the
inks on silk. So I did some searching
on-line, viewed a couple of videos, then I went back to Carol’s tutorial. Here are some of the results:

The scarf
above was my first – I drew lines across the scarf, and large dots. I tried doing it with the scarf folded in
fourths, hoping the marker would go through the layers, but ended up having to
go over the lines when I unfolded the scarf.
Then I used a pipette to drizzle the alcohol over the markings. Smelly!
Best to have your work area well-ventilated. Once the alcohol dried, I used my iron set to
about a polyester setting to heat-set the ink, then washed the next day to
remove the alcohol residue. It came out
far better than I thought it would! It
looked pretty crummy with just the marks on it, but totally transformed with
the alcohol… magic!

I decided to
try Carol’s method for the next scarf. I
have a large number of empty dye containers in a couple of sizes, so I placed
several under the scarf, and secured with rubber bands:

Then I drew
dots on the scarf with Deep blue, turquoise and lime green. Next I applied the alcohol, and waited until
the alcohol dried. Then I removed the
bands, heat set the ink, repositioned the containers, re-banded them, and drew
some more dots. This was repeated several
times until the scarf was fairly well covered, leaving some white for contrast.

I really love how this one turned out, so on to the next
one! I did try an experiment with one of
my Habotai silk scarves, but the colors I used were not great, so I rinsed the
marks out as much as I could – more about Habotai a little later.

So,
back to the blues & green, and I added purple on the next one. I started out using the same process as the
one above, but then added some free form markings too.

Well, I’m totally hooked on these for sure!

So
I went back to the Habotai scarf, just to play around and see how it compares
with chiffon:

First experiment – I drew dots across the scarf which was
stretched and banded over an empty container, then drizzled with alcohol. I realized I didn’t need nearly as much
alcohol as I had used, so on to the next experiment:

Here, I drew dots on one portion and a squiggle on another
portion;

Still too much alcohol – pretty much obliterated the
pattern.

Another “drawing”, but this time I used a q-tip to
apply alcohol:

I think I’m gaining on it here! Less is better with Habotai!

So what I am learning is to experiment, try different
methods, and don’t give up!

I have ordered some Alcohol Inks, but just received them, so
that will have to wait for another time.
But I am very pleased I overcame some of my earlier struggles with the
markers and alcohol, and hope you try this… the colors you will get are
fantastic! By the way, if you want to
give this a try, you can buy the scarves at Dharma Trading Co.
www.dharmatrading.com. I get the alcohol
(usually 91% or higher) at my local pharmacy, and the markers are at craft
stores, office supply stores, or online.
Let me know if you give this a try!